X Switzerland ILO Cooperation / Date: 01 / January / 2020

Woman participating in the GET Ahead training programme.

Gender-sensitive entrepreneurship training and support for women and men with basic numeracy or literacy skills.

What is GET Ahead?Gender and Entrepreneurship Together (GET Ahead) is a gender-sensitive entrepreneurship training programme designed for women and men with basic numeracy or literacy skills.

GET Ahead aims to address some of the barriers women face in starting and running a business, including lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, low confidence, and gendered norms and roles that increase the burden of household and care responsabilities. GET Ahead bridges the gender gap in entrepreneurship support by offering women and men both the business management and key soft skills they need to start a business.

The programme was initially developed to address the shortcomings of standard business skills training programmes in order to service the gendered needs of women.

What makes GET Ahead unique?GET Ahead differs from conventional business training programmes as it seeks to develop entrepreneurial skills from a gender perspective. The upgraded version of GET Ahead (2017) incorporates post-training support in the form of coaching and includes features designed to enhance participants’ training experience:

• Flexibility: The GET Ahead training workshop for entrepreneurs has a duration of five training days. These days can be scheduled over one week, or can be spread out over time, ideally over three months.

• Active learning: Interactive and hands-on activities encourage participants to draw on their personal experiences and to learn from their peers.

• Personal post-training support: Post-training activities including “homework” and coaching help participants put what they have learned into practice. Post-training support adds a dimension of sustainabiliity to entrepreneurship trainings. In some cases, peer-to-peer support networks have also been established to provide an additional layer of support.

• Evolutionary process: The training begins with entrepreneurs generating a business idea and supports them in developing a solid and viable business plan. The training culminates with entrepreneurs being able to pitch their business idea.

• Gender dimensions: Trainings raise awareness on gender dynamics that have an impact on business development and women’s ability to lead successful enterprises.

• Open to all: While GET Ahead was originally designed for women, the programme is open to both women and men and has been implemented successfully in mixed gender groups, as well as groups with mixed skills and literacy levels.

X 19 / November / 2020

InternationalLabourOrganization

Gender and Entrepreneurship Together (GET Ahead)

X Switzerland ILO Cooperation / Date: 01 / January / 2020

Implementation modelThe GET Ahead training programme is designed based on a multiplier strategy. The ILO develops an international network of GET Ahead LEAD Trainers who support the global implementation of GET Ahead. The ILO builds the capacity of local training providers to implement GET Ahead trainings through Trainings of Trainers delivered by LEAD Trainers. Certified GET Ahead Trainers are then able to deliver the GET Ahead training programme through Trainings of Entrepreneurs and post-training support. By using this multiplier strategy and building the capacity of local actors, the ILO ensures the sustainability of the GET Ahead trainer network.

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Gender-responsive measures for training delivery

While the content of GET Ahead incorporates gender across its ten modules, gender-responsive measures can also be adopted across all stages of GET Ahead implementation.

Gender responsive measures for selecting Trainer Candidates and entrepreneurs: • Use inclusive messaging throughout all

communication materials. Depending on the target group of the project, inclusive messaging can encourage particular groups to apply and attend the trainings.

• Communicate through appropriate channels. This may mean thinking out of the box and reaching out through community centres, women’s associations, religious organisations and other spaces.

Gender responsive measures for planning a training: • Take active measures to ensure that women

and participants who are likely to encounter barriers to their mobility are able to access the training venue. If this is not an option, consider offering transportation to and from the venue.

• Ensure that the venue has adequate facilities to accommodate diverse needs and abilities.

• Provide childcare options for participants who have care responsabilities. This can take the form of subsidies, designated childcare areas staffed by qualified personnel, flexible training arrangements, and separate breastfeeding rooms.

• Schedule the workshop so that there is still at least an hour of daylight before and after the workshop. This measure can contribute to the safety of participants.

Coordination: The Women’s Entrepreneurship Development ProgrammeThe ILO-WED programme coordinates the global implementation of GET Ahead and is responsible for developing training materials, certifying and re-certifying LEAD Trainers, and ensuring quality control.

GET Ahead LEAD TrainersGET Ahead LEAD Trainers are responsible for training and coaching Trainer Candidates and working with the ILO-WED programme to recommend Trainer Candidates for certification.

GET Ahead TrainersGET Ahead Trainers are responsible for adapting training materials and training and coaching women and men entrepreneurs.

EntrepreneursEntrepreneurs participate in training workshops and receive post-training support to build their management and soft-skills to start and run their business.

X Switzerland ILO Cooperation / Date: 01 / January / 2020

Impact and voices

KenyaThree years after participating in a GET Ahead training, women entrepreneurs had increased their weekly sales by 18% and their weekly profits by 15%.*

Vietnam GET Ahead trainings were combined with micro loans and weekly coaching. Participants reported an average increase in profits of 26%, as well as positive effects on business literacy and gender knowledge. Women also reported feelings of greater control over their lives and increased bargaining power at the household level.**

AlgeriaA tracer study found that 84.1% of women who participated in a GET Ahead training had seen their management practices improve. Almost half of respondents (45%) reported an increase in their annual turnover, sometimes by more than 60%.

Sierra Leone GET Ahead is helping reduce tensions between women and men. Men who participated in the training are starting to recognize women’s capabilities as entrepreneurs. Some participants have also started joint ventures with their wives.

X ”Listening to other women who were already in business share their experience gave me the confidence that I can manage too.”

- Gloria, poultry business, Uganda

X ”I learnt about doing a proper market study, and what women who want to be entrepreneurs usually lack. I make sure not to make the same mistakes.

- Brifi Bouchra, catering business, Morocco

X ”I learnt how to calculate my selling price and obtain a sufficient margin. I am also better able to manage my business, which has helped me find work-life balance”

- Mariam Haddad, beekeeping business, Algeria

* Developing markets: How training female entrepre-neurs can improve business practices and profits - evi-dence from Kenya, ILO, 2017.

** The impact of gender and business training: Experimental evidence from Vietnam, ILO, 2015.

X Switzerland ILO Cooperation / Date: 01 / January / 2020

What will trainers and entrepreneurs learn from GET Ahead? By participating in the GET Ahead training programme, trainers and entrepreneurs should be able to:

• Have a clear understanding of the gender-dimensions of entrepreneurship development, including on how biological differences and societal norms may differentially affect women and men’s ability to engage in entrepreneurship.

• Develop a viable business plan that can consolidate their business idea. Activities are structured around five building blocks including marketing, operations, finance, people management and risk management, allowing participants to reflect upon these themes with a gendered approach.

• Understand the importance of soft skills and put some of them into practice, including effective communication, negotiation, decision-making and networking.

X Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Programme

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Community of GET Ahead Trainers

GET Ahead is not only a training programme, it is also a network of qualified and committed trainers. Trainers are often women and men working with Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs), women’s associations, or as individual consultants.

To date, more than 300 GET Ahead Trainers across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have been certified by the ILO.

Certified trainers are given access to the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development (WED) E-Space, a platform reserved for ILO trainers, staff and consultants working to support entrepreneurs. The WED E-Space provides a platform to exchange best practices and lessons learnt and bring the WED community together.

There are two levels of certification:

GET Ahead Trainers GET Ahead Trainers can deliver trainings to potential or current small-scale women and men entrepreneurs. GET Ahead Trainers may also be certified to provide post-training support in the form of coaching.

GET Ahead LEAD Trainers GET Ahead LEAD Trainers can deliver trainings to both Trainer Candidates and to potential or current small-scale women and men entrepreneurs.

They are selected by the ILO from the pool of certified GET Ahead Trainers and follow an additional LEAD Trainer certification process that includes further training, coaching and hands-on experience in training trainers.

Modules 1 and 2provide an introduction to GET Ahead and to the gender considerations in entrepreneurship development.

Modules 3 to 7are dedicated to developing a business plan.

Modules 8 to 10are dedicated to developing soft skills.